Improvement in school-desk amd settee



' Eli C. BRGOKE, 0l"

iNlPRGVEil/EENT iN SCHQLHSK AN@ SETT.

Spel-,iliraiion forming part of' tellers Patent No. 2h 2&7@ finit-dApril el lrlil; application till-il Jnnnniy ill), ls'ju To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that l, JOSEPH il. NICHOLS, ot Pliillipsburg, in the countyof Warren. and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and usefulCombined Schoolllesk ond Settce, of which the following is aspocilicaion.,

- My invention relates to improvements in those articles ofschool-furniture in which a riting-desl; has e sont hinged or pivofed toits standards ,z and in y improvement comprises an improved constructionot' seat-arm and of the contiguous portion of the standard, hereinafterfully described and elainied.

ln the accompanying;v drawings, Figure l a sectional elevation of acombined desk and settee embodying my improvements, the seat beingrepresented in ils open modulen, The following figures represent, on alarger scale, the parts composing the joint, Figs. and 3 being sideelevations ot' the samein the folded and the open positions,respectively, and Fic. 4: being en axial section at the line :c :vonFig. 3, looking upward.

A represents one of two precisely similar standards, snrinounted by acustomary or any suitable desk, B, shelf, closet, or bookfoox C, andback l).

A self-closing door or lap, E, hung on pivots e, is provided at theentrance of the closet C.

At F the standard expands into the iorm ot' a vertical plate, M, Whoseinterior Wall or sur face has a hollow conical boss, G, having a squareorifice, g, to receive a bolt, L, Whose square neck. l lits, and is heldfrom turning by said plete-oriiice.

The bolt L is provided with a nut, 0, a Washer, P, and with e helicalspring, Q, the latter occupying the recess of the boss G. Alsoprojecting from said plate is a seiniannu lar flange, J, concentric withthe said boss G. The sides of the boss G and flange J are tapering, andtit the correspcndindy-tapering; hub H and delige K upon the seat-arm F.

A portion, m., of the edge ot' said vertical plate is concentric withthe boss G, and thence taires the form of two concave curves, m m".

The seat-erm I has e ange, N, of such cin-ved content', as represented,as at its initileng'th a to lit and hug the concentric portion 'm of thevertical plate, and at its other portions, n and, fr, to approximate inits convexity and hy a slilirly sharper curvature the concave outlineoi' the parts m and in.

The eil'ect is to arrest the descent of the seat; hy impact or' thesurfaces ai; or near a point, y, which n ill he more or less removed ointhe concentric portion as the holt L is loosened or tightened, or asgreater or less Weight is applied to the seat, the `point of impacttraveling along the irate-e ige, as from y to y', as the seat descendsor becomes weighted, but only gradually, and Wholly Without jar oreoliens sion.

These notions. are repeated .at the parts in" n" in the act ot' foldingthe sea-t, the point ot" impact shiftingy rearward, as from z to z.

The nut (l lniving been screwed heine upon the bolt li, or advancedsnliieiently thereupon to produce the necessary bearing of the conicalsurfaces, no further adjustment will be required for a long time; andshould the parts Wear ico slack, the defect is quickly reine died bytightening' of the nut; but to provide against a neglect of thisprecaution, there may be such arcar prolongation, R, of the seatarm asto connterbala-nce the Weight or" the forward portion, and thus diminishthe liehilit-y to concussion.

This counter-*balance may so far outweigh the sent proper as (when thenot 0 has been snfticiently slacks-ned) to cause the seat to fold of itsown accord on being relieved of the Weight of the occupent.

An additional shelf or closet, located below the closel- U, andsimilarly closed by n gravitating iiao, may be provided.

l ain aware that hinge-joints for schoolseats have already beenconstructed whereby the motion of the seat has been gradually stopped,and the noise incident on folding such seats has been deadened, Such idonot broadly claim, but.

What l claim as new and of my invention The joint ior e folding seatersettee, con

